


Rotten Core Descending

by MeTaPhySics



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: A bit of gore, Action, Adventure, Co-Alphas, Confusion, Consensual Violence, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship/Love, Love, Love/Hate, Lust, M/M, Magic, May have Sexual Content, Mild S&M, Multi, Mystery Character(s), Out of Character, Out of Control, Potentially Dark, Prodigies, Seven Deadly Sins, True Alpha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-07-28 08:50:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7633657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeTaPhySics/pseuds/MeTaPhySics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The villain kids are proving themselves to be good and the hero kids are just so sweet and gentle and kind...especially Ben. It makes you feel butterflies in your stomach. But what if this Ben is currently running you down with the desire to maul and devour you like a beast..Will you still feel the same butterflies? It's the descent of the Seven Deadly Sins...and they must face it.</p><p>Prologue: Completed<br/>(AAAIF) Interschool Festival Arc: On-going</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Wrath

**Author's Note:**

> I've added notes in the chapters. Hope you enjoy.

They're running, faster than a they ever had...as if their lives depend on it. However, it is true...right now, it's the truth. If they stop..they can die. 

Carlos is leading the pack, he's the fastest of them all. Right behind him is Mal, Evie, and Jay. Chad and Audrey are barely keeping up. They wish people ran more in Auradon.

"Stop! I told you!..Stop!!" Ben roared at the top of his lungs. "How dare you run from your King!" He shouts at them, chasing them while knocking down everything in his path. "You're dead people. So Dead!!!" With the last shout in his fit of rage, his eyes started to have a crimson glow. He is starting to look like his father...his father before meeting his mother, a beast.

How wrong they were. They totally thought the day for Ben will be much easier, considering that it's Ben. Ben is simply nice, so nice...the nicest of them all. They just can't help but drop their guard down a little bit...and this is how it turned out. Never have they imagined that Ben will be capable of doing this.

Audrey tripped. The night is dark and it's not that easy to run in the forest with all the mud, tree branches and rocks. She stumbled and fell. She just can't go on anymore. Chad saw this and immediately ran to her aid. With his shaking hands, he tried to carry her, but he himself already ran out of energy from running for hours, nonstop. In an instant, Ben the beast caught up to them.

Carlos also saw it and dashed back towards them. He positioned himself between Ben and them. His back towards the two while facing the growling beast with his shaking hands extended to the sides in an attempt to protect Audrey and Chad.

He's now rooted in his place, realizing that this is similar to how he imagined dogs are, before he went to Auradon.

Ben roared with an overwhelming force that almost knocked him out. But then Jay, almost out of nowhere, jumped over to Ben's back and tried to strangle him. But, Ben just shook him off easily...flailing his arms and sending Jay at a distance.

Jay may have failed in attacking him, but he certainly succeeded at getting his attention. Ben ran towards him and proceeded to shower him with punches, over and over again, no pausing, no stopping.

"I told you not to run little fella! Look how mad you made me!" Ben growled with a hint of a chuckle.

The rest of the gang remained rooted in their places, trying to suppress the violent shaking of their body as they watch Jay being covered with blood.

They mustered up their strength and rushed towards Ben for a synchronized attack with makeshift weapons (rocks and tree branches) and a spell by Mal, but all of them were simply sent flying by Ben's inhuman strength.

They were totally goners. They are all in pain, having at least one broken bone right now...and Jay, he is bathing in his own blood as Ben continues to punch him. But they can't give up, their story cannot possibly end this early...

"Of course not!" They heard a voice as if it just answered their thoughts. "Of course not! Ben would never- !" The voice continued as streaks of light appeared, illuminating the surroundings and showing Fairy Godmother desperately holding on to her wand. The lights flashed in colors, danced in the air, and wrapped Ben as it carried him off the ground, making him stuck in mid-air.

The voice actually belonged to (ex)King Adam or the "Beast", that's what he was known as. However, the beast right now is unmistakably not him but his son...Ben.

Former King Adam can't believe his eyes..blood is dripping from his beloved son's fist. Jay is covered in blood, and the rest of the kids writhing in pain. A group of imperial guards rushed to the kids' sides as ordered. They carefully carried them off, probably to the hospital, except fom Ben who is still violently flailing in the air.

Fairy Godmother is struggling to keep him restrained and afloat...but at last, after almost managing to free himself and after one last roar, the crimson glow in his eyes begins to fade. Former King Adam can't hide the very worried look in his eyes as Ben's life is seemingly leaving his body.

She immediately assured him that everything is fine now..for now. "Don't worry your highness, he might appear dead but he is not, and will recover just after a few hours" She assured him.

***The day after***

The night felt like it lasted forever. The kids slowly opened their eyes, covering them with their hands as the lights in the ceiling momentarily blinded them. All of them were kept in a huge hospital room.

They seemed to have healed from all of their injuries from last night except Jay who is covered in bandages still, but at least conscious. It seemed Fairy Godmother's magic was not enough to perfectly heal them all in one night after using a lot of it on restraining Ben... Jay will have to wait.

"I am so sorry my dear sweethearts. We shouldn't have let you leave the moment you arrived yesterday." Fairy Godmother almost teared up but she tried to hold it. She wanted to comfort the kids even for a bit and she thinks that showing her tears and worries won't help, so she held it.

The kids started to get up and shift their position into that of sitting. They were served breakfast in their bed by staffs who immediately left the room after bringing the food.

They don't really feel like eating but still did, knowing that they got a whole lot of things ahead of them. They gulped down their breakfast, toast with bacon and eggs, plus a glass of milk. They are now ready to listen, except Ben who is still unconscious and seems to be not breathing but is certainly still alive.

"So..what exactly do we do now?" Mal broke the silence. She sounded a bit sarcastic but worried and sincere enough.

"As what I told you yesterday, those marks that appeared on your body pertains to the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. However, it seems that those are not only some sort of branding and such...they manifest in ways we did not predict. Please take a look at your marks."

They were dumbfounded when they first saw it yesterday. Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay immediately decided to ask each other, and were surprised to find out that the four of them have it. At first, they decided to keep it to themselves but decided to ask Fairy Godmother when they remembered seeing similar signs in her book. They were later joined by Chad, Audrey, and Ben who noticed and decided the same.

All of them have 7 marks each. Each of the 7 differerent circles spanning only 5 millimeters in diameter.

Mal has her marks on her thigh.

Evie has hers on her hip.

Carlos, on his abdomen.

Jay, on his hand (good thing he wears those fingerless gloves)

Audrey, on her lower back.

Chad, on his chest.

And Ben, on his biceps.

They immediately noticed something. Their marks are now only made up of 6 little circles, not 7. Fairy Godmother went on to explain. "As you witnessed, the sign of wrath faded away after the manifestation of wrath with King Ben. This gives us a fairly good idea about the situation. We are doing everything in our power in this matter. As much as we don't want to, we are expecting each of your marks to undergo the same phenomenon."

"What will happen then? or once all of it are gone?" Chad blurted out while trying to calm his nerves. He's definitely not liking what he just heard.

"We're doing our best to gather more information. We have found some leads but we don't want to raise your expectations, so we'll tell you once it's verified. But I'm sure there's still hope and that all of you can survive it...somehow. For now, we'll let you stay here for your safety and protection..." They knew it'll come to this and they know that it is for other people's safety and protection, not theirs. They felt like they were just sentenced to imprisonment for being the victims.

They all understood that it was simply a logical course of action, but it didn't stop Audrey, Evie, and Carlos to jolt in chorus and exchange looks upon hearing their own words in different voices."Wait. You're keeping us here?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each deadly sin can manifest with each one of them. The placement of the marks is related to what they will manifest. The timing is uncertain but the magnitude will always be intense unless mitigated. They have control and are conscious during it's duration, but their thought process and emotions are highly affected and completely altered making them regret it later with their memories of the events intact. Contrary to belief, the marks doesn't go away, it only fades on the skin but the mark sink deeper to the bone, leaving the mark you manifested inculcated there.
> 
> P.S. The stuff about eyes will be explained in the later chapters.


	2. Prologue: New Roommates

 

"Yes dear. And we're very sorry about that." A different voice answered their question. It's the former King Adam arriving at the room. He is accompanied by his Queen Belle, who looks like she's about to burst into tears upon seeing her son..still unconscious in the room. There are also some imperial guards with them.

"Just as what was said a while ago, this is to keep you safe and protected." King Adam kept his stern face, even though his eyes are as soft and gentle as they can be. He was actually having second thoughts about this. And just after a second, his thoughts seemed to have earned a voice...he heard his thoughts spoken by his son's voice.

"No Father. That doesn't seem right." Ben is holding his head while trying to get up and sit in his bed. He seems dizzy. Mal immediately rushed to his side, followed by Queen Belle who has much more grace, and they gently helped him sit.

Former King Adam's eyes are shouting with joy upon seeing his son return to consciousness but he kept his composure. He is thinking about what Ben just said and what his own thoughts are. "Pardon me, my King son. But, I think that this is for the best interest of the kingdom."

Ben didn't waste any second to answer. "That's exactly my point, Father. It is for the best interest of the kingdom...but not of these kids, who are also my subjects."

"King Ben, I am sorry to say this, but we are talking about hundreds, if not thousands or millions of lives here. We need to contain whatever is happening." Fairy Godmother added an indisputable truth.

"As much as I am sorry as to what happened, I firmly believe that there is a better option. I don't think it is right to weigh a life against another life, or to weigh a life against some more other lives for that matter. I don't think that we can consider that many lives amount to something more than a few. Lives are not like that. We can't compromise some lives with the justification that it benefits many more. In fact, a single life that we can forsake may be the one who could've saved more in the future. I believe that we should struggle for coexistence, with compromise from both parties and maximized benefit." Ben said all of these without batting an eye.

He seems to remember everything from last night and seems sorry about it, but determined to spare his friends and subjects more trouble by being forced to be locked up in that hospital with their rights somehow violated.

The room echoed with silence. His parents have that same look when he proclaimed his first royal decree about giving the villain kids a second chance. It's the same feeling they had, thinking that it sounded absurd but still seeing Ben's point. They are now again having second thoughts with the considerations.

His friends' eyes, on the other hand, are like watching a heated exchange of a sports match, looking right to left and back, to Ben to King Adam to Fairy Godmother and back. They can't believe that they are witnessing such a conversation that can be considered as an imperial diplomatic discussion.

They are also in awe of Ben's diplomacy. _Ben is the real deal_ , they thought. They know that Ben is King, but it's like they've just understood what it truly means right at this moment. They listened intently to what will be said next. They are actually in support of Ben. They don't want to be locked up in there. It may not look like it, but they have a lot to do in school like homeworks, projects, researches and such. It may look like it's not a big deal, but for them it is. It is not just about credits but about their learning...their future.

They want to be able to choose their own path and it's like the starting line for them. Not to mention that they don't know how long this conundrum will last. It is even possible that it may continue forever. They still don't have that much of an idea about what's going on. And they'd rather risk it outside to find some solution instead of staying imprisoned with uncertainty.

They knew this. Even Fairy Godmother, Former King Adam and Queen Belle knows that it is what the kids felt, but they just can't think about it....but hearing Ben is opening their hearts and minds...just like before, with his first royal proclamation.

The older people in the room exchanged looks. They are deeply considering what Ben just said. "What do you suggest then, my King son?" Queen Belle finally spoke.

"It may be too much but I would like your permission to let us go back to the school and our dorms. We'd keep an eye out for each other and we'll report to you anything odd. We'd also like to contribute anything we can in solving this matter." Ben started the terms.

 _It seems to be starting a diplomatic haggle, so we better shut up and let Ben handle it_ , that's just what the gang thought including even Audrey and Chad who normally wouldn't shut up and would try to voice themselves. They just felt it's time to shut up this time. And the bit of fear they had remaining from Ben last night seems to also contribute to it.

"I see. That's fair enough, but we need to fix some things if you really want to go back. What do you think Fairy Godmother?" Former King Adam answered, still with uncertainty in his voice, but it's definitely a start. The kids can't help but beam with hope as they look at each other as if their eyes are smiling widely.

Fairy Godmother immediately responded. "Indeed Your Highness. If I may, I guess we should start with the rooming. We need keep you together as much as possible for you to keep an eye with each other. We'll start by transferring Audrey to Mal and Evie's room. And Chad to Carlos and Jay's."

It sounded nice but the kids can't help their furrowed brows.

Jay and Carlos definitely don't wish to be roomed with Chad. He always has the tendency to never shut up about himself which is why he is currently without a roommate. But, it makes it easier to transfer him without problems.

Audrey, on the other hand, is currently rooming with Lonnie, so it may require a bit of strategy to transfer her without catching too much attention. Not to mention that a lot of students may find it weird for her to suddenly transfer to Evie and Mal's room, and the two doesn't even look that happy with the idea either. They're already starting to be friends and all but the fact remains that they just don't really like each other that much. But it is not as though Fairy Godmother hasn't considered it.

"With Ben, you'll be allowed to remain in your room at the castle. We'll keep an eye on you there. As with Chad, just simply transfer tommorow morning. It won't be that much of a problem. As with Audrey, I'll have your room remodeled or something so you can transfer too. Then, I guess I'll also temporarily transfer Lonnie to Jane and Ally's room. That way it won't be weird....I can't believe I'm doing this." She almost emptied her lungs with her silent sigh at the end. Well, such actions already amount to deceit somehow and Fairy Godmother just can't be proud about it.

"Thank you very much Fairy Godmother. And also, please don't feel down. This is for the best interest of everyone and I for one can say that it is a good idea." Ben is quick to assure her.

"Oh, and make those reports everyday, not only when something's odd or weird...but everyday, every afternoon, in my office. Okay sweethearts? That way we can also inform you of any new findings we have." She quickly added, almost forgetting about that part.

Everyone nodded and the kids smiled. Fairy Godmother, Former King Adam and Queen Belle left the room satisfied with the result of the discussion, leaving the kids to rest for tomorrow, which happens to be Monday. They started to lie down to their beds, happy with how the conversation turned out, and shift their positon to comfort as they fall to slumber. But noone really noticed Ben as he lied down...with a faint crimson glow in his eyes and a sly smile on his lips...

***The early morning after***

It's still a bit dark but everyone already got their energy back. Of course, Jay is still alive and already kicking, thanks to Fairy Godmother. And all of them are genuinely happy that they're not going to be locked up in that hospital, thanks to Ben..

The limo arrived and they quickly boarded. They need to immediately transfer their new roomie's things before the classes start. They happily chatted along the way, seemingly forgetting that night of wrath. Mal and Ben talked as usual and everyone of them actually, except for some awkward pauses when the topic of new rooming was brought up by Chad in a snarky comment. They're trying to be cool with it but they find it as not as easy.

When they arrived at the dorms, Lonnie already transferred out the room. It seemed the 'repair' was started last night. She asked Audrey where she's been but just gave up when she's not getting an answer. She just assumed that maybe she slept over with Chad like watched movies or something. But, she gladly helped Audrey with transferring her things.

"Oh here. You almost forgot these." Lonnie smiled with seemingly sad eyes and handed to Audrey a bottle of meds.

It was actually sleeping pills. Audrey had these fear of sleeping ever since she was a kid when someone told her the story of her mom, Sleeping Beauty. Until now, she can't really sleep without it unless she's too tired to even think, like last night and the other night, after that beastly encounter with Ben.

"Thanks a lot Lonnie. I'd really appreciate it if you won't talk about this with anyone." Audrey hugged her. Lonnie simply nodded and left.

Inside the room, Mal and Evie are awkwardly standing, like they are waiting for something to happen.

"What's with you two? Do you really hate me that much?" Audrey nonchalantly asked but with a bite in her tone.

"Uhmm..Not really. But we could actually ask you just the same." Mal answered as if biting her back.

Evie decided to jump in the conversation. "Well, we can't really do something about it. It's like the best deal we can have."

"Thanks to Ben." Mal added.

"Thanks to Ben." Audrey added again.

"You know what..I think I already had enough of this." Mal stood up and approached Audrey.

Audrey held her chin high and raised an eyebrow, like a defensive stance for an attack that is coming at her. She actually doesn't want to fight with Mal anymore but her pride is keeping her from making peace. She admitted to herself that the thing with Ben was completely a one-sided thing and is already content having Cinderella's son, knowing that a lot of girls are actually after him, of which she just can't help but feel good about.

"You know what." Mal's voice is imposing and full of an authoritative tone. Audrey almost winced but maintained her stance. "Let's just forget about it and move on." Mal held Audrey's shoulders and crinkled her nose with a forced but sincere enough smile. Audrey was dumbfounded. She was completely caught offguard. She was so sure that Mal was about to start a fight or something. She was so surprised and it showed on her face.

"Not what you expected?" Evie teased her a bit with a knowing sweet smile while Mal brought Audrey's bags from near the door to her side of the room.

Audrey can't help but feel embarrassed. She think she should've at least been the one who initiated making up. "I was going to say the same. You just got ahead. Dumbass." She blurts. The two girls giggled and she proceeded to just giggle as well. _It won't be too bad rooming with them_ , she started to think.

Chad, on the other hand, has a different idea. He totally thought he can now boss Jay and Carlos around, them being his roommates and all.

He was totally wrong though, as all his attempts at giving orders completely fell on deaf ears. But Jay and Carlos are actually secretly laughing, they can totally hear all his orders.

Nothing noteworthy really happened there. Chad ended up setting things up on his own and the two completely ignored him the whole time.

That day, all of them managed to attend classes without any problems...so far. They immediately gathered at the front of Fairy Godmother's office and proceeded to report the uneventful day that afternoon. No new findings was also shared to them. This just made their urge to solve things themselves stronger. They decided that they'll talk about it that evening before lights out in the three girls' room. They think their decision is not that bad, at least that's what they thought for now.

As they went outside, Dude, the school mutt, happily greeted Carlos and the gang just like how it always does. It wiggled it's tail with excitement as it attempted to play with Carlos. Carlos immediately picked it up and let it lick him all over his face.

However, this time is weird, it quickly started to growl as if something caught it's attention...

Dude started to bark relentlessly towards Ben. But they didn't notice at all since they are all practically in the same direction. It just looks like the mutt is barking at them, once again Ben's eyes showed a faint crimson glow as he started to look annoyed and maliciously glared at the dog, telling it to fuck off, without anyone noticing, sending the mutt whimpering and running away from them. It doesn't make sense but they just shrugged it off, since they think they have bigger problems to think of, at least that's what they think.

That night, Dude didn't show up where it was suppose to play with Carlos. It was gone...nowhere to be found.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben totally got Dude.. T.T sorry. Hope you still enjoyed though.
> 
> Dogs have heightened senses and Dude sensed something with Ben. And this ended Monday night, which means the night of wrath happened last Saturday night.
> 
> P.S. The eyes doesn't stop glowing, the marks never go away. It sinks and marks the bone. They just need to control it. The memories during the take over event are always intact.


	3. Prologue: Beginning's End

 

10:00 pm

Mal, Evie and Audrey are restless. They are waiting for the guys to arrive at their dorm room, like what they decided earlier that afternoon.

Evie is standing in front of the full length mirror but is not looking at her reflection as she is deep in thought. Audrey is at her bed, tapping her fingers restlessly on the sheets. Mal, on the other hand, is muttering something to her self as she walked back and forth from one side of the room to another.

"At last!..What took you guys so long?!" Evie and Mal immediately snapped back to reality  
when they heard Audrey shout under her breath as she sprung up of her bed seemingly irritated.

They saw Jay entering the room with the new roommate, Chad. Followed by Ben, who somehow managed to snuck out from his room at the castle, after clumsily breaking some things in the process (he tried his best though). The boys slowly entered and gently closed the door behind them, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"So what's the plan?" Mal's voice was barely above a whisper. She didn't waste any second to ask the boys, who suggested that they start to do some detective work and solve things themselves. They are really getting impatient and uncertain about the situation, and they badly wanted to uncover the truth as soon as possible.

"Wait, where's Carlos?" Evie spoke softly but her words got everyone's attention. They started glancing at each other, waiting for someone to say something.

"I thought he'd be here already. He said he'll go straight to your room after playing with Dude." Jay tried to explain.

"Well, he's clearly not here. What do we do now?" Audrey blurted with her furrowed brows, not clear if she's pissed or worried.

"Maybe he's still playing with the crazy mutt." Chad whispered under his breath, referring to the relentless barking the mutt just did earlier, but his snarky remark made it to everyone's ears. They glared at him, well except Ben who is trying to suppress something from showing in his face. "Ok sorry, just saying." Chad immediately added.

Mal instantly grabbed her bag and dashed to the door. "Hey Mal, where are you going?" Ben gently grabbed her arms in an attempt to stop her.

"I'm going to find Carlos." Mal shook off Ben's hand and went out the room. She doesn't intend to be rude to Ben or something, but she can't help herself whenever her friends are involved, more so with those three that she practically grew up with in the dark side.

She felt the need to be responsible for all of them, including Audrey, Chad and Ben, especially after that night of wrath. They still don't know the details, but being alone certainly spells trouble for all of them.

Everyone is starting to get stressed out but they are trying their best to maintain the bit of composure they have. They let Mal leave and flopped themselves in the beds with a heavy breath, except Evie who immediately went after her.

"What now? We can't really plan with just us four." Chad used the chance to be an ass that he is and stated the obvious which just made them more uncomfortable.

Audrey glared at him. "What choice do we have? Of course, we wait." She folded her arms and continued to tap her fingers at her elbow while letting out a big sigh as silence echoed the room.

Evie, on the other hand, chased Mal in the hallway. She grabbed her hand and was a bit dragged by Mal's fast-paced walk, but she stopped for a bit, letting Evie catch her breath and talk. "I know you're worried, but let's not be rash about this."

"Rash? Who's being rash?! I'm just doing what needs to be done and noone can st- " Mal's word was cutt off as Evie pulled her into a hug. There were no words but Mal understood what Evie is trying to say.

Evie gently wrapped her arms around her as Mal finally started to relax and rested her head on Evie's shoulder, Mal's tears started to flow..it's silent, noone could've guessed that she is crying right now except Evie.

A lot has been happening lately and they never really had the chance to relax and let it all out.

It's just like when they were children..they made it a point to never show their tears to others except one another..they believed back then that tears are dangerous, it's a sign of weakness and an invitation to be manipulated or be taken advantage of. Mal never let others see her soft side except Evie, and Evie does just the same.

"Sorry." Mal wanted to stay in Evie's arms for a while, but she wiped her tears as she noticed that Evie's shoulder has become damp with her tears.

"No worries, M. I can even cuddle with you later tonight if you want." Evie held Mal's cheek and wiped the remaining wetness as she gave him a sweet smile as if saying that everything will be fine.

"No way. We're not kids anymore, and besides, Audrey's in our room now." Mal fixed her self, hiding any clue that she just cried. "No one is too old for cuddles, M. And don't mind her, she's been a good sport lately." Evie quipped as they heard footsteps approaching.

The footsteps were loud and fast like in a hurry. They turned towards the end of the hallway and saw a figure, running wildly. Their eyes widened as they saw it becoming more visible, revealing Carlos dripping blood on the floor making their hearts beat like crazy as adrenaline seems to overflow their bodies.

"C-Carlos?!" Mal's voice was shaking as she dashed towards him, she's seeing what she was hoping not to see, bloody Carlos, literally.

"Dude was-...I finally found Dude-...But then-.." Carlos was about to stumble as he catches his breath. The two girls caught him and helped him. Their eyes widen as Carlos revealed a still Dude cradled in the lower loose part of his shirt. It was the canine's blood dripping on the floor, not of Carlos.

They somehow felt some relief, but not enough to be actually relieved. A lot of blood has been dripping and they clearly understood that the mutt's life is at risk. They hurriedly assissted Carlos and went straight back to their room.

Evie opened the door which caught everyone's attention as it contrasted with the silence looming the room. Audrey's eyes widened at the sight, and all of them basically had the same reaction as Mal and Evie at first.

"Oh my God, we need to take that mutt to the hospital!" Audrey winced at the gory sight. All of them are in panic, but Carlos is trying to keep his head on his shoulders. "No, he won't make it if we do that. I'll handle this." His eyes are burning with determination.

Seeing Carlos like that is strange for them. He usually looks jumpy, but now he doesn't look fazed at all. However, they think it doesn't really help with the situation...at least that's what they thought.

"No first-aid can possibly save that thing." Chad is as insensitive with his choice of words as always, but they let it slide as his voice obviously hinted a genuine concern. Maybe he's just not that good at being good despite being born to goodness.

"No, not first-aid. Mal, give me a knife or anything sharp..Evie, lend me one of your sewing needles...someone, get me some warm water and any clean piece of cloth that you don't mind getting dirty...also some antibiotics and disinfectants...also a tweezer or something"

All of them immediately acted on Carlos' words even though they are still quite confused with the situation and doesn't have any idea what Carlos is planning to do.

He carefully handled the mutt. With its life resting on each stroke of his hands.

They're eyes widened except Audrey who can't help but grimace when Carlos meticulously handled its protruding innards and expertly shoved it back inside its belly while applying forces on different pressure points...he did it while looking for foreign objects that might have made it's way and carefully removing those with the tweezer.

They now understood what Carlos is trying to do...even though they doubted for a second that he can actually make it happen, they simply found themselves in awe with how Carlos is handling the dog.

He trimmed the fur to be able to operate and sew its belly. Dude was probably in great pain but lacked any energy to express it. Carlos brought out an injection that contained something that could numb the pain. He said that he always secretly carry it around by habit.

It started back in the Isle, where he'll sometimes inject it to animals that her mom was skinning alive, hoping that it lessens the pain, as to where he got it from or how, they don't have a clue.

His hands are so steady. It's like watching a different person..a doctor in an operating room, except that it's Carlos in the dorm room. He started to clean and treat its other injuries...sewing the mutt's open wounds and applying antibiotics and disinfectants. Aside from the big deep cuts and some minor cuts, it only has some minor bruises, which Carlos also took care of.

The mutt started to look like a mutt and less like a character from a gory horror movie. The gang can't believe what they just saw, it's like it all happened in a flash. Even the three villain kids that knew him the most are in awe. They all knew that Carlos is exceptionally good in their Biology class and is a Tech prodigy who know his ways with machine and electronic parts.

They knew that he knows a thing or two about butchering animals and skinning them (they assumed that maybe Cruella just forced him and taught him at some point)...But they certainly did not expect him to use those knowledge to save an animal's life instead, or to know so much as to be able to perform an expert surgical operation like a professional surgeon.

Carlos sat back on the floor, breathless, as he wiped his sweat. It's as if he never breathed the whole time while working on Dude. But, he has this satisfied smile on his face which looks a bit creepy as blood is all over him.

Dude started to have a stable breathing. He looked just like before except for some bald patches on its belly that Carlos made to be able to perform an operation. It's not that obvious though, it was meticulously done, and no one can possibly notice it unless they look close enough.

They all sighed in relief. They sat back and looked at the dog with smiles on their faces, except Ben who's been sweating profusely the whole time.

"What? Too much for a prince?" Jay teased Ben as he noticed him sweating hard, totally not looking good. But Ben just ignored the question and corrected him instead. "You mean a King, not a prince." Jay understood that it means Ben is going to be fine, he won't answer that way otherwise, so he just shrugged it off.

It's already 11:45 pm. Lights out is 12 midnight, and they knew that they won't be able to do much planning for that night anymore, so they just decided to give it up for now...

But they suddenly felt their heart clench as they noticed that Chad is missing in the room this time. "W-Where's Chad?!" Audrey's breathing escalated as she looks around the room.

They scrambled while trying to get up and went to the door. Audrey stepped outside first, and they saw her drop her shoulders with a deep sigh. It made them feel a bit of relief knowing that she probably saw Chad outside..so they simply peeked outside the door with their heads, with which they saw a strange view.

Chad was there on the floor, on fours, scrubbing hard the bloodstains from the blood that dripped. He somehow managed to get his hands on some pail of water and stain removers, as if he exactly knew where to find those.

Chad immediately noticed them, with their eyes widened and jaws dropped a bit. It's been a strange night. "What?!" He snapped at them. He is definitely not comfortable with them watching. No one answered, it's as if they didn't hear him, even though they did.

"Seriously people? That's not funny at all. We don't want students freaking out with some blood on the floor, do we?" He furrowed his brows as his cheeks turns a bit rosy. He's embarrassed but he can't stop what he's doing. "Yeah, he's so right. Come on, let's help him." Carlos talked with a really wide smile, he's happy with how Chad seems to care, especially that it's Dude's blood. He certainly appreciated it.

Chad embarassedly stared at him..or them, as how it appeared. Chad was somehow expecting them to ridicule him or make fun of him, which always happens when he is seen intently doing something like household chores especially when he's focused and concentrating while doing it. People thought it's just dumb...which is not really.

They all went over to Chad, trying to get rid of those stains as fast as possible with the remaining time. It's a good thing that the blood only started to drip not far away from the room, so they managed to finish without going too far.

They were all still dumbfounded, but heck, he's Cinderella's son. So it shouldn't be that surprising. Maybe he can see her mom still doing some housework after all this time, and maybe he's just became drawn to it somehow or something like that. They just didn't understood why would Chad hide it from them..they just don't have any idea.

They finished with the scrubbing and even though they haven't done any planning, they just wanted to just rest for now. It was a strange night, and they decided to bid their goodbyes as lights out will be in less than 3 minutes. The boys started to run, but in tiptoe, as the girls waved from behind. It's truly a strange night.

Audrey was the last go back inside. She gently closed the door. Dude was sleeping soundly on its makeshift bed on the floor. Evie was collecting the bloodied trash on the floor, putting it in a sealed plastic bag before tossing it to their garbage can. Mal was washing off the blood from the things that Carlos used. Audrey decided to also help, scrubbing the blood that dripped on their room's floor.

"Carlos is amazing." The two can hear Audrey whisper under her breath.

"He certainly is." Mal added with her eyes beaming proudly.

"Totally amazing." Evie added further, as the three of them exchanged genuine smiles for the very first time. They heard footsteps, probably lights out. They hurriedly turned off the light and went to their beds....sleeping soundly with their minds temporarily at rest...or not.

Mal felt her bed dipped, she was actually still awake. She turned to her side and saw Evie smiling at her.

"I told you we'll cuddle tonight, remember?" Mal was caught off guard, she wanted to just push Evie over the bed's edge, but Mal just gave in and snuggled to her closely, letting Evie's arm wrap her tightly and hugging her back. The past days are messing up their heads and it's been a strange night, they both just wanted to feel some comfort, the kind they felt whenever they are around each other, relishing each other's warmth as they fall to slumber peacefully...for now.

They didn't notice that Audrey's still awake. Of course, she can't still go to bed without popping those pills she hid. She saw Mal and Evie under the sheets, remembering how Lonnie used to cuddle with her whenever her sleeping pills are not enough to make her sleep, but now she's nowhere near and she just can't help but let out a big sigh, alerting the two girls.

They pretended to be asleep until Audrey went to the bathroom and a loud sound of someone collapsing is heard throughout the room, along with the sound of pills scattering on the floor. The two immediately sprung up the bed and went over, trying their best to open the locked bathroom door as their marks started to feel like it's burning.

They don't really remember feeling their marks burn before...well maybe except that night of wrath, when they didn't actually felt it that much since they could feel their injuries more, when that night's Ben gave them broken bones.

Mal looked at her thighs, where her marks are, while Evie looked at her hips. They can feel it burn, and it strangely felt like the sloth symbol is the one burning in particular. They writhed in pain as they desperately tried opening the bathroom door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dude ended up being the first victim T.T at least it survived (I don't really know if I should call Dude a he or a she..a female dog played the role in the movie but I think it was a male role ?? I ended up calling Dude as "it"...forgive me T.T ) Hope you still enjoyed.
> 
> This is still Monday night. In the last chapter, they decided to meet up later this evening, which brought us here.


	4. Prologue: Chantre and the Closet Prodigies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My original character is here, I'm not sure if someone similar was already out there. I bet some of you can easily guess who it is though. I hope you still enjoy.
> 
> This is still Monday night, right after the previous chapters.

Ben writhed in pain as his marks started to hurt like it is burning. He is inside his castle room, clenching his biceps where the marks are. He wonders if the others are feeling the same right now. He can also notice how it feels like the sloth mark is hurting in particular. He sat at his chair, across a full length mirror where he can see his own reflection, a handsome young man with lips curving up into a smirk. His eyes furrowed at the view, fully knowing what it was.

The reflection started to sneer and laugh at the struggling Ben. In his fury and mind clouded with pain, he sprung up and gestured to throw his crown to the mirror, but managed to stop himself just in time before doing so. He sat down again, trying to fight off the pain.

The reflection seemed annoyed at Ben's hesitance. It started to spiral into a ball of faint light and went out of the mirror, gaining a physical form. It dispersed through the room in a form of a smoke, slightly pinkish in color. This time, the mirror showed the reflection of the real Ben, the one writhing in pain.

 _"What a wuss."_ A voice echoed throughout the room, still without the trace of someone speaking except the smoke.

"Just shut up. It fucking hurts." Ben blurted with a bite.

 _"Uh oh..the king is mad. But it felt like this is the first time you swore.. you don't sound natural at all. It's a start though."_ The voice continued to sneer at him as the smoke gathered together and dissipated, revealing a handsome young lad dressed in fancy garments and holding a wand similar to but different from Fairy Godmother's.

Within mere seconds after Ben saw him, the lad started to transform into a beautiful young woman in a fancy robe, then into an old woman, a young boy, and finally into an exact copy of Ben, like a perfect clone. But there is one thing that remained the same all throughout the transformations, the wand, enchanting and held with the right hand.

"Who are you already? And your true form..it's never the same, you only stop transforming after settling down as my doppelgänger. I've done what you said, I never told anyone about you. Why did you do it to Dude?" Ben's pain is still there, but a bit tolerable now.

"Oh.. the poor mutt. I was just giving it a scare so it won't bother us, of course I'm disguised as you, in case someone see. But I didn't expect it to run wildly and stumble down a cliff. On a different note though, I decided to tell you my name, you should be glad." The figure just dismissed the matter nonchalantly, convinced that the dog hurt itself without anyone's fault.

"So you're saying you didn't deliberately hurt Dude?" Ben is surprised and confused. "Exactly as I said." The voice sounded nothing but true. "But the mutt almost died, thank God Carlos is there." Ben sighed in disbelief.

"Yeah, I saw it. Don't forget that I can live within the eyes of those who have the marks if they already manifested one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I'm practically in that room that time, watching Carlos and all. And actually..it seems that I'm having an additional host right now." Ben's doppelgänger approached him fast and grabbed his biceps, examining it closely as if looking for something. "Sloth...I see..I wonder who is this person that will join you Ben."

Ben shook off his doppelgänger and backed a little, putting some much needed space between them. "I get it. Fine, tell me your name now, just as you said." Ben glared.

"Oh fine. I thought you totally forgot. But fine then." The doppelgänger waved the wand and a word appear mid-air.

 _CHANTRE_.

"Chanter.." Ben read it under his breath but Chantre definitely heard him.

"No. Not Chanter. It's pronounced two ways. But Chanter's definitely not one of them." Chantre sounds a bit irritated which made Ben chuckle a bit, completely forgetting the pain shooting through from his marks.

"Oh really. You think this is funny? I can easily break my side of our bargain and just give the marks to every single one of your subjects in Auradon if I wanted. Or do something worse so easily with my power that you just witnessed. I can even pose as you or your friends and do horrible things if I feel like it." Chantre sounded annoyed and the words brought Ben back to his senses. He know that he should deal with this person carefully.

He agreed not to tell anyone as long as Chantre doesn't do more damage. He knows what Chantre can do in just a snap, and the wand just complicates it more, it's as powerful (if not more than) as Fairy Godmother's own. He was actually surprised when Chantre agreed, although he is taking the agreement with a pinch of salt, since he doesn't really know anything about Chantre.

"I get it. Please forgive my rudeness. How is it pronounced then?" Ben is a bit taken aback but he tried to show no signs of it.

"It's pronounced like Chantrie (Chantry) or Chantor. I won't mention the name to your father though. It may elicit some bad memories. But remember that this is our goodwill" It confused Ben, he was expecting to get a hint about Chantre's true form from the name, but he can't even get a clue if Chantre is a boy or a girl, or what the person is talking about. The voice however sounded more calmed now, and as the words are heard, Chantre disappeared into thin air. Nowhere to be found.

Without Chantre distracting him, Ben started to notice the pain in his biceps once again. He immediately rushed outside his room to go and check on his friends even though it was almost 1am already. But, just outside the room, he is met by his father, Former King Adam.

"Son, where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you." His father maintained his composure, but Ben can easily notice the panic under the facade.

"Father...I'm just in my r-"

"You're not even in your room when I checked. Anyway, just come with me." Ben's words were cut off. At first, it makes no sense. He was just in his room and his father claimed that he went there looking for him. However, Ben immediately realized. He felt a sudden twitch from his heart as he realized that it may be Chantre's doing. Maybe a concealing magic or something..it made him realize just what he is dealing with..Chantre seems to be really as powerful as he/she claims to be.

His father brought him just outside the castle with a cab waiting. "The limo already took off with Fairy Godmother. Something is happening in the dorms, we hailed a cab for you. You should go. You all need to be together as much as possible. After this, we may arrange for you to live in the dorms as well, but let's just talk about it later. You need to go." Former King Adam almost shoved Ben into the cab and told the driver to hurry with a stack of cash, which maybe includes some hush money. They can't risk rumors going out and starting a panic.

He was clenching his marks throughout, trying to forget the pain. It was a short ride, but to Ben it felt like the longest and most nerve wracking ever. He immediately went straight to the three girls' room first. There he found his six friends with Fairy Godmother. The boys just went there after they started hurting while Fairy Godmother was called by the girls when they felt the pain and after Audrey was locked in the bathroom.

"Thank goodness King Ben. Where have you been? Your father almost flipped the castle upside down while looking for you." Fairy Godmother somehow forgot all her terms of endearment while attending to the sleeping Audrey.

"Yeah, sorry. What happened?" Ben immediately asked while clenching his arm, even though he somehow knew that it's about the simultaneous pain.

Everyone are hurting. Mal is clutching her thigh. Evie, her hip. Carlos, his abdomen. Jay, his hand. And Chad, his chest. Except Audrey who is not clutching his lower back and is sound asleep in her bed. She was found sleeping on the bathroom floor by Fairy Godmother.

Then, it hit Ben. _So it's Audrey now...with sloth_. After a while, their pain magically disappeared. They thought maybe Fairy Godmother have done something, but she actually still haven't. It seems like an introductory pain of some sort or a warning of the manifestation of a mark.

"I don't remember you kids telling anything about something like this with the night of wrath. Although, I can imagine why." Fairy Godmother remarked while still in deep thought. She knew how adrenaline can work and all of these kids were totally in a fight or flight mode that night of wrath, plus the pain from their broken bones which probably overwrote the pain from their marks that time.

Everyone started to move around with the pain gone, still except Audrey. They saw Fairy Godmother bring out a bit.. large injection.

"Wait. What's that?" Mal interrupted, looking suspiciously on the fluid inside.

"It's a stressor concoction. We are actually planning to tell you this, but we decided to withheld the information before sloth emerge. We discovered that all the seven deadly sins are some sort of _aggression_ with a strong presence of love that already became twisted and perverted, all except sloth..which can be considered as _listlessness_ with a strong absence of drive or love of anything and any form." Fairy Godmother explained as she injected the fluid to Audrey's arm, this time without any protest from anyone.

"We discovered that stressors can help mitigate sloth, and relaxants for pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony and wrath. However, we can't risk giving relaxants to the one affected with sloth or giving stressors to others, since it can worsen the situation as you can imagine. We are still discussing the matter when you called us. And it seems that an opportunity presented itself." She added while giving each of the remaining kids their relaxant injections, except Ben who is already done with wrath and won't be injected anymore.

"That's good news then." Jay received his shot without wincing that much and looking satisfied with the information, he still can't figure out how his knowledge of applied physics and athletics will help, while Carlos is also deep in thought, probably tinkering his ideas in Biology. "I can't believe I haven't thought of it." He blurted. He's not fazed by the injection at all, Cruella made him a bit pain tolerant, but not all the time.

"Yeah, it makes so much sense." Chad added while his face grimaced, he is actually an Athletics and Zoology prodigy, he is more than familiar with how human and animal bodies work. He actually likes animals and is especially curious as to how a mouse can turn into a horse scientifically (he just decided to let the pumpkin-turning-into-a-coach slide). However, he's not like Carlos who have that much knowledge for applied skills like operating on a dying mutt or real life experiences like witnessing someone expertly skin an animal.

"I see. Will it be enough though? I think we should maximize the dosage without triggering some strong side effects." Evie's Chemistry genius mind is on the works with her immense knowledge of Potions. She tensed a bit before receiving her shot but it went well. She is starting to think about chemicals and stuff as stressors and relaxants and how to maximize each one. Mal received her shot without any problems either. All of them simply feels brave and determined at the moment.

Then they started to think that maybe it's a good thing that the information was withheld because they felt like they will likely experiment with it immediately.

Ben is especially good at Political Science and Literature. He has his ways with books that can make him understand a thick book's core content in less than an hour, which is helpful in researches.

Mal is a genius in Linguistics and Spells. She can immediately understand the spells even in different languages and tinker semantics to make it work, even with a slight difference in words. It also made her able to read or translate books and researchers in different languages. She is also good in Math, and more in Calculus, claiming that it's just like a language but with numbers as letters in forming ideas and words. This can help with researching foreign archives and calculating dosages she thinks.

Jay is a rising prodigy in Physics and Athletics. He just seemed to understand it all, even though he mostly explain it with a whoosh, bam, thud, wham, swoosh, and other ambiguous words. But, he can certainly apply it in real life, knowing the right angle and force in every throws he intends to do after studying the shape, size and weight of an object. He is still thinking how it can help them though.

They were all practically prodigies and experts in their own fields. And their thought processes are simply triggered by the information they heard.

On the other hand, after getting their shots and while deep in thought, Audrey started to move and get up. Her eyes also started to show the same crimson glow Ben had. They were taken aback at first, remembering how the same glow drove Ben to break their bones and cover Jay with blood.

But they know that this is different, they don't have a clue as to how sloth can possibly be that dangerous to all of them. But they won't take any chances this time. They are determined not to let their guard down once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chantre is here. Ben didn't hurt Dude :D..Audrey's prodigy side will be mentioned on the next chapter...Thank you for reading.
> 
> Chantre hangs out around Ben's room. Having revealed himself to Ben first and striking a deal with him. Chantre has a wand similar to Fairy Godmother and has the ability to shapeshift and do minor magic without a wand. He claims that what he does is for the greater good.


	5. Prologue: Plot holes and True Alphas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the plot holes like the MIA spell book and MIA Dude explained. This is still Monday night. Last part of Chapter 2 up to Chapter 5 happened in one night.
> 
> P.S. The eye color glow is explained at the end notes of this chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

Audrey was confused. All seven of them is in their dorm room, plus Fairy Godmother. Everyone is staring intently at her as if waiting for something.

"What?" She blurted out, snarky as ever but still confused. She then saw everyone's shoulder dropped a bit, like they are relieved with something. _THE SLEEPING PILLS_ , she thought. Her heartbeat escalated in anxiety, thinking that maybe they discovered about her pills.

She tried her best to remember what happened, deeply furrowing her eyebrows and reaching for her head..then she felt a hand on her shoulder, Fairy Godmother's. "Are okay sweetie? I'm so sorry but we went ahead and gave you the injection." She told her.

"Injection?" Audrey can't make sense of what's happening. She finally remembered how her surrounding started to spin just after taking a single pill that night in the bathroom, but it was just a single sleeping pill...why would she need an injection? She can't possibly be overdosed since she normally pop at least three every night. But still she's horrified, it's a secret only her mom and Lonnie knows, she'll never want to tell anyone about it.

"You were manifesting Sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. We were just talking about how stressor concoctions can help mitigate sloth and relaxants for the others." Evie chimed in while giving her a hug.

Mal held Audrey's face and pulled it closer to hers. She is a bit uncomfortable but feeling Mal's breath on her face strangely gave her a sense of security. It was warm and relaxing. Then she felt the skin around her eyes being gently stretched. "The crimson glow in your eyes is totally gone." She heard Mal say.

"Ok, wait. I don't have any idea w-. Oh...I see." She was about to protest when the idea finally hit her. _It was not about the pills, thank God_...she can almost hear her thoughts as her facial expressions started to relax and exude relief, even making her lips curve up a bit.

This was not good though. Everyone started to stare at her in confusion, it's not the reaction they expect from Audrey. Who the hell would be relieved after hearing such horrible and puzzling news? Definitely not Audrey, that's what they thought.

"Are you guys sure she's okay?" Carlos mumbled under his breath, confused with how Audrey is acting. "I'm not really sure, but smiling is not a bad thing right? Well, except in this situation maybe?" Jay is equally puzzled.

"The Sloth stuff guys. It's mitigated but not completely gone. Simple as that." Chad spoke with bravado as if he just solved the world's greatest mystery, but he can't hide the shaky undertone in his voice, he is clearly worried. "Can sloth make you happy?" He directed the question to Fairy Godmother.

"Not really happy my dear, but relaxed and such."

"See. It's normal." He sounded satisfied with the answer. However, he can't help but notice Ben still staring intently with furrowed brows at Audrey. "Something wrong?" he immediately ask.

"N-No, I'm just glad things are fine now...for now." It was barely above a whisper and nobody heard that last part he said. He was actually thinking about Chantre, he knows that he/she is just somewhere around the room, waiting for Audrey to be isolated and maybe reveal itself to her.

"Okay sweethearts. We really need to take a rest now." Fairy Godmother glanced at the clock. "Oh, it's already 2am, you really need to sleep. You still have classes tomorrow. Boys get back to your room, Ben come with me back to the castle, and girls sleep tight, okay?" She gently shoved the boys out of the room and bid goodnights to the girls. "Just call me if something happens again okay?"

She gently closed the door behind her as she quietly bring the boys to their room while canceling any noise they make with her magic. They can't risk to wake up other students in the dorm. In fact, they were actually a bit noisy back in the girl's room with everything happening..kids writhing in pain, Ben arriving not as quietly, Audrey blurting out...but Fairy Godmother already took measure before that, she already covered the room with a sound barrier magic, making it appear as quiet as possible from the outside that time.

Audrey, on the other hand, is still confused. Mal and Evie seems like they have already fallen asleep. They were probably tired and all..and it's fucking 2am.

She decided to get up and go to the bathroom for her pills. There, she realized something. She can clearly remember her pills scattering on the floor before passing out. She remembered how fucked up she thought she was once the other girls saw her. And it's Fairy Godmother that opened the bathroom door to retrieve her a while ago, but nobody mentioned anything about pills and stuff.

She looked around the bathroom, in the corners, in the drawers, under the sink, but still can't find it. She looked at her puzzled reflection in the mirror...and was almost fatally shocked at the view. She freaked out as her reflection started to slyly smile at her, while stumbling down the floor and putting as much space as possible with her back on the wall. She reached for the door while shouting for help...but she didn't know that the bathroom was also covered with a sound barrier, similar to what Fairy Godmother used before.

"Wow, this sound barrier is really something. I almost wanted to thank Fairy Godmother for showing it to me." A sweet voice was heard throughout the bathroom. Audrey immediately turned around at the mention of Fairy Godmother's name. There, she saw a beautiful lady in a fancy robe and holding a wand. She glanced at the mirror and saw her usual and normal reflection. This made her relax a bit, seeing the wand and all. _She's probably an acquaintance of Fairy Godmother, which means she's good_ , that's what she thought.

"A-Are you the one who hid my pills?" Audrey asked.

The lady didn't answer, but she extended her hand with Audrey's bottle of meds. Audrey cautiously reached for it and clutched it between her fingers. "So Fairy Godmother taught you this magic?" She asked.

The lady chuckled. "Not really. I just saw her use it a while ago in your room while you guys are being noisy. Can't risk to wake up other students. Well, I just figured out how to do it on my own." This made Audrey uncomfortable, and more so when the lady transformed into a dashing lad in fancy garments, a little boy, and finally an exact copy of Audrey (Just like how it did with Ben).

"W-Who are you? What do you want?!" She can't help but shake a bit. She knew that this is trouble, she knew this person is powerful...even got a wand of her own.

"You should ask Ben. He'll know." Audrey's clone answered as it disappeared once again, without a trace. Audrey didn't understand but she decided that she'll just ask Ben the following morning. She went out the bathroom...

There she was shocked once again....she saw Dude sleeping in the floor..right where they left it this night after Carlos operated on it and before their marks burned. She inhaled rather loud and deep, as she stumbled on the floor once again, making a loud thud and waking Mal and Evie once again.

"Hey Audrey, why are you not sleeping? I'm starting to think that you're waking us up on purpose. I thought we're already cool with each other." Mal's voice was raspy. She was struggling to open her eyes as Evie fumbled with the lamp's switch beside Mal's bed. It seems like she slept in Mal's bed again.

As their vision adjusted, which is quicker than normal, they saw Audrey on the floor staring at the mutt. This jolted them too, making them fully awake. They can't believe they totally forgot about Dude on the floor. It was easily visible from anywhere around the room, but nobody noticed it all this time, even Fairy Godmother, it's as if Dude was concealed or their memories were twitched.

"Is Dude hurt?" Evie quickly approached the sleeping mutt, worried if they have somehow stepped over it with all the conundrum that night. But, the dog seems fine.

Mal patted her face in an attempt to wake herself up more. "Wait. This is really weird." Mal shot a look on Audrey to which Audrey simply shook her head. She wanted to tell them about what just happened on the bathroom but she wanted to ask Ben first about it, just like what she is told, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Oh no..." Mal froze in her place with a sudden realization.

"What's the matter, M?" Evie approached her and held her shoulders.

"I think someone is messing up our memories. I-I mean it should be almost impossible, it's like a taboo even in the dark magic..plus it's supposed to be real advanced and stuff. Cursing someone or even killing someone with magic is something, but twitching memories is something else. It won't really give you a good revenge if the victim is clueless plus it's cruelty is on a different level. If you completely alter one's memories, everything about him can change, personality, belief, mannerism and all, even true love can't do anything once your memory is completely erased, you'll have to experience all your experiences once again, and the only effective solution is time rewinding magic, which is also a taboo and super advanced. With it you can just let things happen and prevent the memory altering magic before it happens once you arrive at the specific time frame then-....." Mal is spacing out while continuing to mumble all the words. She was only cut off when she felt Evie's lips on hers. Evie pulled her closer and gave her a deep wet kiss. They both jolted upon realizing what's happening. They both stepped back and wiped hesitantly wiped their lips.

Audrey was equally shocked at seeing this. "U-Uhmm ok.." She didn't expect these two to be in that kind of relationship, but the awkward ambiance afterwards lets her realize that it's probably the first time it happened between the two.

Evie's face was burning red. She didn't know why she did what she just did, then they felt their marks again, this time the lust symbol was burning. But, it's not that painful. It kinda explains what just happened as Evie's eyes started to faintly shine in crimson glow.

"E, your eyes!" Mal blurted as Evie tightly blinked which somehow made the glow go away.

"Oh my God, I wonder what could've happened if you didn't receive those relaxants shots." Audrey remarked in disbelief as Evie and Mal's cheeks turned bright red.

"It'll surely be trouble....anyway, how come you know that much Mal? with all those magics and taboos and stuff?" Audrey is getting suspiscious at Mal. Their heads are all a bit messed up and they don't really have that good of a relationship to begin with. It haven't been even a week since they made up and decided to get along with each other, there's practically nothing that keeps Audrey to be suspicious.

"Hey, you're being rude Audrey! Do you somehow think that Mal is behind this in some way?" Things escalated quickly and Evie was getting furious but she is trying to maitain her composure. Things are chaotic and they can't afford to fight with each other.

"I-I'm just asking. I mean she knows a lot." Audrey explained in her defense.

  
"Of course I know a lot! It's practically written on MY SPELL BOOK..." Mal was a bit offended but her words made her heart skip a beat. "My spell book..." She repeated as her eyes begin to shine in a crimson glow, without the other two noticing. There was no pain or burning in any of their marks, just her eyes glowing as she somehow managed to remember a part of her memory that seemed to be hidden away.

"What?" Audrey and Evie asked in chorus, still confused, as Mal hurriedly jumped back to her bed, reaching far behind the head board, under the pillows and under the sheets, before turning back to them with eyes still glowing in crimson. "My fucking spell book! Remember?! Oh God, how can I possibly forget about it?!" Mal exclaimed.

She almost flipped her bed upside down. She proceeded to go over her closet and bag as Audrey and Evie finally remembered too. "Right! Your creepy book! The one you used for Jane's and other's hair makeover!" Audrey's words elicited the two's glare. "Sorry, I meant it felt creepy that time." She added, attempting to be but not really being apologetic.

"M.. your eyes..!" Evie finally noticed the glow. It's not green as usual, it was a different glow, not the ones when Mal uses her magic. Mal stopped and went to the mirror with the two behind her. She blinked tightly like what Evie did earlier, but the glow won't go away. She was not acting weird nor is their marks giving them pain or discomfort.

Mal was starting to panic as she felt Evie's arms around her. She started to calm down and the glow faded. "That was weird." Mal commented in disbelief.

"This is clearly too much for one night. I think we should just really sleep for the remaining time, which is not much time. Let's look for it tommorow." Evie is right, a lot has happened and they badly need to rest.

Audrey was so tired already, she thinks a single pill can be enough for her to sleep this night. She went to her bed, but she was so tired that she absentmindedly started to pop a sleeping pill, completely forgetting to hide it from the two. And just when she was about to take it, she felt a hand restrain her arm, it was Evie.

"Sleeping pills?!" Audrey was so sure that Evie was disgusted with her, Audrey is at least. She really hated needing to take those for her to sleep. She wanted to be perfect and needing sleeping pills won't bring perfection in any way, she thought. She thinks it's weird and she doesn't want anyone finding out and think that she's a freak.

However, she just can't help it, she still find it difficult to just sleep after someone told her about her mom's story, Sleeping Beauty. Sometimes, she'll sneak out her room at night when she really can't sleep. She'll then watch the stars outside, which she thought as nothing but perfect and beautiful. It was also one of the reasons that she's exceptionally good in astronomy. She knew almost everything there is to know about it. She loved the night sky and everything in it. She even learned navigation using stars on her own when she was 10. But, of course, noone knows about it.

"That works as a relaxant, you can't take it with sloth, which is the deadly sin manifesting in you!" Evie added which jolted Audrey. She was surprised not to hear any hint of disgust from Evie's voice.

"She's right, Audrey. If you want, you can sleep with us in my bed to help you sleep." Mal added. "And don't worry about Evie. If she does something weird like earlier because of this stupid marks, I'll take care of it." Mal chuckled as Evie glared at her playfully. This was not what Audrey expected, not this kindness, understanding or empathy from the two girls. She was so sure she'll be met with disgust if anyone finds out about her, but it's not the case right now.

They were all tired. They climbed up Mal's bed and slept. Audrey was in the middle, with Mal and Evie's arms draped over her stomach. They started to fall asleep as she heard Evie's voice. "Don't worry Audrey, we also used to have problems sleeping before. We know it's hard but you can go past this, I know."

There were no question asked as to why Audrey's like that, they simply welcomed her and offered comfort. It was strange for Audrey especially coming from these two, but she felt glad about it and really appreciated the gesture

\--

  
Ben, on the other hand, can't still sleep in his castle room. Well, who can when there's constant laughing echoing the room.

"Why can't you just shut up Chantre?" Ben is fully awake, unable to sleep with the noise.

"W-Well..It was just surprising.." Chantre is trying his best to suppress his laughter while talking. "I was so sure Audrey's eyes will have a golden glow, but it's not." He started laughing again. "A-And those injections, it made Evie manifest a deadly sin earlier."

This jolted Ben. "Evie? What do you mean?"

"Well, the relaxants did mitigate the deadly sins' effects...b-but it won't lessen the effects, maybe a bit...but only because it will be spread over a longer period of time with less intensity, unlike your one night of wrath with such intensity of rage...i-it's so funny how you think you're solving the problem." Chantre bursts in laughter once again.

"Things will surely be interesting, you can't even clearly tell when Evie's deadly sin manifest because the pain from your marks were also mitigated. I-It was suppose to be a beacon but now it's almost useless..A-And it's a fucking crimson glow again, I was so sure her eyes will glow in blue....A-And Mal." Chantre almost ran out of breath from being so hysterical. Ben's brows furrowed in confusion, he is getting bits of information but he can't really understand what Chantre meant.

"S-She still haven't manifested a deadly sin but her eyes glowed...and it's a fucking crimson glow again..Alphas everywhere...I-I thought maybe you're special, being King and son of the Beast and all...that's why your crimson glow that night didn't surprise me at all...but these people really got me...And a True Alpha at that..she even broke the memory spell I made with the her book..T-This is so interesting." Chantre let out a last chuckle and finally calmed down.

"W-What memory? What are you talking about?" Ben has never been this dumbfounded before, he can't make sense of Chatre's words. He intently waited for an answer.

"Damn, I said too much. Well, it won't hurt...I'll let you sleep now." Chantre disappeared once again, leaving Ben fully awake with those words this time. Ben tried to sleep but he is worried, it seems those injections are proving to be a big mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairy Godmother probably knew how the injections will work and they decided that less intensity in a longer period is better than having sudden violent intense bursts.
> 
> P.S. Chantre is not insane, he/she just have a strange sense of humor sometimes. Plus, finding so many Alphas and a True Alpha is making him crazy at the moment.
> 
> CRIMSON RED/ GOLDEN YELLOW/ BLUE  
> The mechanics of the glowing eyes is similar to Teen Wolf (I'm not sure if I should tag it..?). Except that it doesn't happen if you are a werewolf/coyote/etc, but when you are marked with the Seven Deadly Sins. The eyes glow when the deadly sin mark is in effect and takes over. The most common glow is golden yellow. It's the normal color for everyone. Extremely strong will and rooted goodness in the heart will make the eyes glow in crimson glow red. It's supposed to be rare. Those with psychological scars or have taken an innocent life before/during the take over will exhibit a blue glow. The ones with Crimson glow are called Alphas. Those who exhibit the crimson glow before their marks take effect and can somehow negate the effect of the deadly sin through a will of steel are branded as True Alphas. They are rumored as able to break through and overcome memory and time related magic. Few information are available about them.


	6. AAAIF: Turns and Crossroads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally Tuesday in this chapter. Monday night took 3 chapters to finish...I'll try to cover longer periods in the succeeding chapters T.T  
> This chapter is the start of the Interschool Festival, AAAIF.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

It was a pleasant morning, everyone looked full of vigor...except our seven heroes. They have been dealing with the constant surfacing of the six deadly sins (six because wrath has completely come to pass..but Ben still got his hands full with Chantre).

Last night, as Audrey, Evie, and Mal made a shocking discovery about their memories, the three boys experienced a phenomenon just as similar.

After Fairy Godmother delivered them to their room, they immediately climbed up their beds and prepared to sleep. However, just after a few minutes, Carlos sprung up his bed, went out the room, and returned with a handful of snacks. He started munching the foods away in a wild and loud manner that woke up the other two.

"What the fuck Carlos?" Jay finally decided to get up and confront him. "We are trying to fucking sleep! Sleep is such a good thing and we should get a lot of good things for ourselves. You're unbelievable, eating is for the day and sleep is for the night. Getting the most out of it is a must!" It doesn't really make sense, so Carlos just shrugged him off and continued munching with his mouth overflowingly full.

 _What's wrong with these retards? How can they be so lively at night? Must have been nice living in the Isle..they got themselves some unusually good skill sets. I'm sure I could've learned how to perform surgery if I lived there too. I could've been the one who gets all the glory, not Carlos. It must be nice having Cruella as my mom._ These are Chad's thoughts as he listened to the other two bicker.

Chad didn't bother to get up and join the two, but something's definitely up with his strange thought process. Sure it's Chad, but it's still strange to think that way.

Things escalated, but they were so occupied that they didn't even noticed all their eyes flashing a crimson glow. Chantre is currently laughing his ass off in Ben's room about how Evie manifested a deadly sin earlier than usual because of the relaxants, which mitigated the effects by spreading it over a longer period of time. It's a shame he didn't witness what's happening with these three, he'll surely find it more interesting...they're manifesting some deadly sins themselves.

Jay and Carlos started to wrestle. Jay somehow decided to take the foods instead, an idea that Carlos didn't like. It's becoming more and more noisy, which prompted Chad to finally retaliate at the two.

"Shut it fuckers!" He shouted, the choice of words stopped the two in their tracks as they finally noticed Chad's eyes glowing in crimson.

"W-Woah, your eyes dude." Jay was taken aback, as if his own eyes are not in the same state.

"Hory shet. You two guysh looksh like beasht Ben!" Carlos exclaimed while mouth still full and eyes glowing in the same color.

It's like they snapped back to reality. They started to blink profusely in panic as it dawn on them, they finally noticed their marks burning a little although not more than an itch, especially with gluttony, greed and envy marks.

"Shit..that was close.." Jay whispered under his breath as Carlos and Chad's eyes widened in their realization. "We should go to sleep." Chad added as he fixed himself to sleep. "Should we tell them about this?" Carlos asked with eyes still widened as Jay pulled him up from the floor.. "I think we should." Chad answered before closing his eyes. "Yeah, let's do that tomorrow." Jay added as the three of them went to bed and fell into slumber.

And so that's how in that pleasant morning, everyone looked so full of vigor...except our seven heroes.

They arrived at their class exchanging anxious glances all throughout. They all have the same first subject that day and they are itching to talk, it's a perfect time. But, they attempted to talk to no avail.

"Hey, you look so tired Aud. Did you sleep at all? I hope you didn't pop a lot of those you-know-what." Lonnine was worried but still careful to never let her tongue slip with Audrey's secrets, she has no idea that three more people learned about it last night.

Audrey didn't answer and just proceeded to hug her, which looks more like drooping her body weight over Lonnie for balance. She did look tired, as well as the other six. All of them were constantly yawning which elicited some stares from some of their classmates, especially Jay and Carlos whose yawns are especially wider and louder as it can be.

"Settle down everyone. We got some announcements for today." Their Sociology professor arrived and started to write something on the board as the students became restless in anticipation. It seems like they were waiting for this.

Evie went to her seat beside Doug, with Mal and Ben to their back, and Chad and Aziz in front. Across the alley were Audrey and Jane, with Lonnie and Ally to their front, and Carlos and Jay behind. They were slightly at the back, with other students seated at the front.

"Hey, you okay?" Doug immediately asked Evie as she tried to suppress her yawn. "Yeah, totally fine. Thanks." Evie flashed her usual sweet smile which charmed Doug, making him stop with the inquiry. She badly wanted her beauty sleep and decided to just droop over her desk, overhearing Mal and Ben's conversation behind. Well, noone can really blame her for having such good ears.

"So, I was thinking..things were getting a bit out of hand lately and with all these stuff I was thinking that mayb-" Mal was cut off, she was resting her head on Ben's shoulder as she mumbled the words. She was just getting so stressed out and she is now thinking that she won't be able to be a good girlfriend to Ben anymore with how things are.

She's still a bit unsure but she felt that it's the right thing to do. Ben held her head, patting it gently before squeezing her hand as he cut off her words.

"You don't need to explain, M. I understand..the situation is a bit different now and I also think that we should sort it out first." They both felt their heart clench as they held each other's hands. They are having the urge to tear up but just can't bring their selves to. The Deadly Sins were messing them up, and they simply want to be their best self for their loved ones, which is not the case at the moment. There was no hard feelings though. It was mutual.

It was without warning and Evie wanted to console her friend but just don't have the energy, maybe later. Others seems like they didn't noticed the break up happening at the moment except Audrey. She definitely noticed and overheard it also, she's got the penchant at eavesdropping even though she's trying to avoid it lately.

However, she's definitely not planning on breaking up with Chad at the moment, she just can't see the point of doing so. She wanted to think about why Mal and Ben did but also lacked the energy, so she just shrugged it off.

The professor finally finished writing. He clapped his hands, getting the class's attention to the writing on the board.

_AAA INTERSCHOOL FESTIVAL_

The class cheered except the four Isle-landers. "A-A-A? Is that lame or what?" Jay turned to Carlos while suppressing his laughter and waiting for answers.  
"I guess it's read as Triple A..?" Carlos knew nothing either. They reached for Audrey, but she didn't budge and seems to be dozing off, however Jane turned to them and explained kindly.

"Guys, those A's with I and F stands for Annual Atheletic and Academic Interschool Festival. It's basically an interschool event where the best students of the chosen subjects and sports faces off, there are prizes and stuff, but the schools and students mostly goes after the prestige of simply winning. It's like a big deal." Jane whispered, avoiding to be noticed by the professor, but she is definitely noticed by other students, including Evie an Mal.

"Chosen subjects and sports?" Mal chimed in, to which Jane immediately answered. "Yeah, with all the possible subjects, only a few where chosen, 10 academics and 5 athletics excluding Tourney. Well, most athletics representatives comes from our Tourney team though. Audrey was actually bummed last year when Astronomy was not included, but I heard that it may be this time. Sometimes the teachers chose the representatives, but when it's not unanimous, there are usually some preliminary examination rounds, although sometimes they simply choose the student with the highest quizzes in that subject's class."

"Sounds like a lot of trouble." Mal sneered, an act that Jane already learned to ignore. and accept.

"But it sounds fun, don't you think?" Evie sounded excited knowing that she got the highest scores in her Chemistry class. Although she thinks that it could be troublesome with the deadly sin stuff they're dealing with right now, she thinks that it's a perfect time for the four of them to really show what they are worth to the people of Auradon, plus it will be nice if they'll be a pride of their school, not to mention the prizes.

"You think there'll be Biology or anything with Electronics?" Carlos was getting as excited as Evie.

"I'll just go with sports I think." Jay, on the other hand was strangely as enthusiastic as Mal, which is not much.

"Hey, what's wrong with you two?" Evie definitely noticed Jay and Mal's lack of enthusiasm. "Yeah, what's the matter? It sounds fun." Carlos gently bumped Jay's shoulder but got no reaction from him. Then, Jay finally spoke. "I got Greed dude. And if there's one thing I learned about sports, it's teamwork..greed will definitely spell trouble." He was actually thinking hard about it.

"Hey! People at the back!..Less talking and more listening will be a great favor." They jolted at the professor's louder voice and started to just listen. "So as I was saying, our school is going to host the event this year, so expect busy weeks. It was already integrated to the schools' syllabi so you don't have to worry about missing classes or any lessons this month." He continued.

"This month?! Like the whole month?!" Mal exclaimed under her breath which made Ben chuckle a bit.

"Yes M, it's a two-week event but the host school normally allocate a month to include proper preparations and post-festival cleaning and celebration." Ben explained in a whisper. "Wow. It really is a big deal.." Mal was in complete disbelief, just like the other three.

Their Sciology class ended earlier than usual, they were given the rest of the period as study hall. It was the perfect chance, they were so anxious to finally have time to themselves and tell each other about what happened last night to sort things out. The students started to form study groups and the seven kids took the opportunity to group themselves in a corner, without getting much attention.

"So what's up?" Ben spoke first, he was hoping to verify if what Chantre said about Evie manifesting a deadly sin is true.

"Okay look, first of all, we all look obviously anxious to say something. So who goes first?" Mal took the lead, just like how she usually does.

"Ladies first." Jay quipped just as Chad was about to open his mouth, which he promptly closed.

Audrey shot a look at the two girls, trying to send a message to just leave out the pills thing, which the two somehow understood. "Ok, so the thing is, I manifested a deadly sin last night. Not that long and without much pain from the marks." Evie's words answered Ben's thoughts, Chantre did say the truth.

"Really? Actually, the three of us did too." Carlos was as surprised as the two boys to hear Evie.

"Yeah, it's true. I got envy..Jay got greed..and Carlos got gluttony." Chad added. "What did you get?" His comments and questions doesn't sound too helpful but at least he's engaging with the conversation. This surprised Ben, Chantre didn't mention this, maybe he doesn't know either.

"Is it just me? or do the seven deadly sins seems to fit us? I got lust by the way." Evie added without malice in her voice.

"Yeah, that fits you too." Jay jokingly added. "What did you do then? We just practically wrestled and bickered before realizing it," Chad really has a talent to make things a bit uncomfortable and awkward with his snarky comments.

With this, Audrey shot him a look and changed the topic, she figured that the two girls probably don't want to talk about it like this. It's her way of being grateful that the they didn't bring up the topic about her pills. "That just leaves pride then..that means Mal will get it, or did you get it already?" Audrey was not so sure. She remembered how Mal's eyes glowed last night but she was acting just fine, so she can't really tell. There were no signs of pride that she took note of.

"I'm not really sure. But I think things are getting a bit more strange." Mal didn't know either if she already manifested pride.

"I guess the relaxants is simply spreading the manifestation over a longer period of time to mitigate it's intensity." Ben was borrowing Chantre's words this time, but he made sure to sound casual about it. The others nodded as they realize Ben's point.

"Oh and one more thing.." Audrey turned to the two girls. "I guess you should be the one to tell them, M." Evie turned to Mal and waited as Mal remember the part that they've been really anxious to tell them.

"Our memories..I think someone's twitching them." With Mal's voice, the boys' eyes widened a bit in anxiety and disbelief.

"Remember Dude last night when Audrey manifested sloth? Where is it?...and my spell book, did any one of you remember about it?" That last part made their nerves twitch.

They completely forgot about all those things, especially the spell book, it could've been their life line but they didn't even remember that it exists before Mal mentioned it. Jay and Carlos was especially surprised, they've been fond with Mal's magic and spell book ever since. They can't possibly just forget it exists.

These words also made Ben remember Chantre's words about the memory magic stuff. He knew Chantre did it and it's making him furious.

The study hall was fine and all until Ally came rushing through the door. It was almost lunch time and everyone is starting to get hungry, but Ally seems to still have a lot of energy.

"Hey you guys!!! They already posted the representatives for the festival! And I for one can say that our chances of winning won't definitely go down the rabbit hole this time!" She practically squealed all throughout her speech.

The class immediately sprung up and raced to the gathering crowd in front of one of the bulletin boards just outside the room. The seven kids followed suit, they struggled to see the little tarpaulin post, which reads:

_ANNUAL ATHLETIC & ACADEMIC INTERSCHOOL FESTIVAL_

_ATHLETICS_  
Boxing: Gordon Dwarvon  
Fencing: Artie MacArthur  
Gymnastics: Aziz Aladdinson  
Martial Arts: Li Lonnie  
Swimming: Herkie Godchild

 _ACADEMICS_  
Accountancy: Jane Fairy Goddaughter  
Astronomy: Audrey del Auroria  
Electrical Engineering: Carlos de Vil  
Chemistry: Evie Queen  
Linguistics: Mal Bertha O'Drakontos  
Physics: Jayden Jafarson  
Political Science: Benjamin Florian  
Trichology: Anxelin Fitzherbert  
Visual Arts: Ally N. Wonderland  
Zoology: Chad Charming

 _MASTERS OF CEREMONIES_  
Jordan O'Genie  
Douglas Dwarvon

"Are you kidding me?" Mal uttered in disbelief as Evie started to squeal under her breath while passionately shaking Mal in excitement. Evie then high-fived Carlos who is as thrilled as she is.

"Wow. Our school offers all these subjects?" Jay was astounded, but he was more surprised that he's not on athletics but Physics. Well, he's cool with it, Greed manifesting won't seem to be a problem with it, unlike sports. With that in mind, he's fairly starting to get excited too...he's actually confident with himself in Physics.

"Wow! Look at all these names. I really think we can bag the crown this year." Doug exclaimed, which prompted the other students to cheer as Audrey slowly went away from the crowd unnoticed.

Chad however, noticed, making him uncomfortable and alert the other five. They immediately went after her with Mal gently grabbing her arm to ask what's wrong. Audrey simply stopped and turned to them.

"It feels like the festival will be a lot of hassle. I'm gonna go talk to the Headmistress to count me out." Audrey unenthusiastically explained. They can feel that something's off.

"Are you sure? Jane said you've been waiting for Astronomy to be finally included in the fest." Evie didn't understand what's going on, until she noticed a glint in Audrey's eyes.

"Shit!..Guys look at this.." Evie exclaimed under her breath as she turned to them. They moved closer to Audrey and saw the crimson glint in her eyes. "Sloth.." Ben muttered. "I think we should wait before you talk to Headmistress. You've been wanting this Aud..you've been waiting for this chance. You can't just quit..especially while under the influence of the sloth mark." It was barely above a whisper to make sure noone hear and noone did.

"I know what I'm doing. But fine, I'm just tired and I just want to sleep." Audrey blurted out and walked away. She went pass Lonnie who just appeared from the corner with her martial arts uniform. With this, they decided to just meet again later before lights out at the girls' dorm room and immediately dispersed as to not attract attention or make Lonnie suspiscious.

Lonnie didn't really notice anything odd with the group except the part where she overheard that Audrey wanted to sleep.

"Uhmm. I didn't mean to overhear it, but did Audrey just said that she's gonna sleep?" Lonnie proceeded to ask Evie and Mal in disbelief, she knew about Audrey's difficulty in sleeping and what she just heard surprised her.

"Uh Yes..yes, she's a bit tired and all." Mal answered in a friendly manner as she dragged Evie away, hoping to evade any inquiry that Lonnie might decide to make.

She continued to drag Evie to the ladies' washroom and locked the door behind them after making sure that no one is around. Mal was hoping to discuss about the Festival and about Audrey, but it seems like it was not a good idea as Mal started to feel the stare that seems to pierce her back.

She immediately turned around to Evie, who is now riskily close to her. Evie continued to close the distance between them with her ever sultry look. Mal can feel Evie's stare on her lips as she felt hands gently grabbing her hips. Mal started to protest but she doesn't want to make much noise and attract attention from the outside. Evie started to gently kiss her neck which made Mal moan a bit, as she struggled to push her away. Mal can feel her body shiver but she maintained her composure, even though barely.

It's not that long before Mal can see the faint crimson glow in Evie's eyes. She reached for the doorknob but was having second thoughts. If she opened the door and a professor or even a student happens to be just outside, they will definitely attract attention which certainly spells trouble.

She was trying to think of something..anything. Then, a magnificent idea hit Mal, she was hasitant but she can't think of anything else. She stopped struggling against Evie, which made Evie pause for a second and look at her in the eyes. As this happened, Mal took the lead which pleases Evie. Mal grabbed her and gave her a deep kiss on the lips as she slowly led her to one of the cubicles and lock the door behind to enact her plan.

Mal started to take off her leather jacket as Evie started cupping her breast and kissing her collarbone. Mal almost winced from resisting the pleasure, she is starting to like it, which means that she should accomplish her plan as fast as possible. When she finally took off the jacket, she gently tied Evie's hand behind the girl, and quickly pushed her down to sit on the covered toilet before proceeding to sit on Evie's lap facing her and effectively restraining the girl with Mal's hands pushing her shoulders.

"Wow M. I didn't know you like these kind of plays." Evie slyly smiled as she tried to reach for a kiss. But Mal just continued to hold her shoulders away while still sitting on her lap. "You're no fun M."

Mal was actually getting a bit hot but she really wanted to talk, she'll just take care of it later. "Stop it already E. You're making things so much harder. I just broke up with Ben and here you are doing this to me. We need to talk about the festival and Audrey."

These words jolted Evie, making the crimson glow fade away from her eyes. She remembered how she planned to console Mal about the break up. She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head as if trying wake her self up. She lifted her head and met Mal's gaze, but this time Evie's eyes are back to normal.

"Oh my God M. I-I just...Sorry." Evie uttered with a painfully apologetic look. Mal smiled gently and leaned closer examining her eyes, and after making sure that the glow is gone, she untied Evie and proceeded to hug her. Evie hugged her back. She held her wrist where the jacket left some marks.

"Sorry about that E. Does it hurt?" Mal worriedly asked about her wrist. "Yes, totally fine." With this, Evie flashed her smile, not sly like earlier. "But I think you can get off me now. You're actually a bit heavy." Evie joked with Mal still sitting on her lap. Mal faux hit her and stood up.

"So about the festival..you still think we can participate without making much trouble?" Mal immediately took the chance to ask, preventing Evie from opening the topic about the break up. They opened the cubicle door and went in front of the mirror to fix their smudged lipstick and wipe some lipsticks from their necks.

"I'm actually having second thoughts now. I don't want to end up making out with other contestants once lust take over again. I'm glad you're the only one I've almost made out with so far M." Evie answered as she applied her lipstick.

"Me too." Mal added while fixing her own lips, which elicited a weird look from Evie. Upon realizing, Mal chuckled a bit. "Wait. That sounded wrong. I mean I'm glad that you haven't attacked a lot of people, it will be trouble otherwise." They both smiled. Mal meant the words but both of them felt funny for a moment there, as if they liked the idea of Mal being glad that Evie is making a move only to her.

They fixed themselves, hiding any trace of what just happened. They went out the washroom where they bumped into Jane who seemed relieved at seeing them, smiling even though she stumbled down the floor. The two girls helped her up and apologized. "Oh, Evie, Mal. Thanks...So here you are. I've been looking for you two. All the Festival representatives are summoned in the Headmistress's office. Everyone is already there, come with me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gordon is the son of Grumpy. Artie, the son of Arthur. Aziz is the son of Jasmine and Aladdin. And Herkie is the son of Hercules, he's a relative of Ariel and King Triton and he likes to swim, maybe he visits them a lot in Atlantica at Triton's Bay. Anxelin Fitzherbert is a daughter of Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert. Trichology is a branch of dermatology that deals with the scalp and hair. I thought they match. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
